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Skoolie is a great idea for adventurers. What are important things to consider before buying skoolie for sale? Find out more on Typestrucks!
Things to Consider Before You Buy Skoolie for Sale
Turning an RV into a small living space doesn’t sound like a foreign idea. In fact, with 11.2 million RV owners today and 9.6 million people expected to buy an RV in the next five years, the RV-tiny home trend is still on the increase. The idea has expanded and many people starts to look for other alternatives, one of them is skoolie. You might have noticed numerous offers or requests of skoolie for sale have been increasing lately. The number is expected to arise especially after the pandemic.
Many people are looking for skoolie for sale, especially if they love to DIY their own living space with much more freedom and adding their own unique concept of a living space. Creating your own skoolie might be a fun thing to try, especially if you love to go on outdoor adventure and would love to take your home with you. But, converting a school bus into a living space doesn’t only mean looking for skoolie bus for sale. There are also several contributing factors that you need to consider. Read our guide below to help you navigate through your first skoolie conversion.
What is a Skoolie?
Before you browse over listings of skoolie bus for sale, first you must be familiar with the meaning of skoolie first. A school bus that has been turned into a home is known as a skoolie. A hybrid of a tiny house and a camper RV is the end result. Skoolies often have an interior more akin to a small house while maintaining their bus-like exterior.
Similar to a class A RV, a skoolie’s main advantage is that it can tow a car behind it and doesn’t need to be towed by another vehicle. Because you’re beginning from scratch, unlike when you rebuild a camper or RV where the bones are already there to deal with, they also permit the most creativity when remodeling. Although renovating a skoolie on your own is labor-intensive, the results can be rewarding.
How Much Does a Skoolie Cost?
When we speak about the cost of a skoolie, it doesn’t only mean the price of skoolie buses for sale. There are also some costs that you must consider. Basically, the expense of converting a school bus will vary depending on the bus’ size, the extent of the renovations, and its overall condition. Skoolie conversion for sale can cost between $20,000 and $30,000 to turn into a mobile home.
Charges once you leave the house, in addition to conversion costs, also need to be taken into account. Here are some of the costs you must consider:
Living Expenses
Apart from skoolie conversion for sale, you must also put living expenses into your budget list. Your monthly utility bills, such as those for electricity, gas, Wi-Fi, and so on, are covered by this. Spending a little more up front on solar panels to power all of your appliances and general electricity could dramatically save your monthly expenses. Solar panels are typically installed by skoolie owners to enable some fun activities, such as boondocking or dry camping.
Traveling Expenses
You must account for travel days’ fuel costs if you want to move your skoolie at all. With today’s pricing, a cross-country trip may cost between $1,400 and $2,000 or even more! However, this will depend on the bus’s fuel tank capacity, fuel efficiency, and whether your skoolie runs on gas or diesel.
Parking Fees
If you consider to travel with your skoolie, the next thing you must also consider are parking fees. You will have to pay to park your home unless you intend to remain there permanently on your property or the property of someone you know. At an RV park, this may cost anywhere from $300 to over $1,000 per month, but be aware that many places won’t accept skoolies. BLM land and national parks, which are frequently either free with limits or inexpensive, are likely to be better options for you.
Maintenance Costs
For skoolies, you’ll have to pay twice as much for interior upkeep and other necessities to keep the bus running. Normal maintenance expenses are more than owning a car, but less than owning a house. Here are a few examples of what to anticipate from routine maintenance:
- Vehicle registration and inspection annually
- Tire replacements
- Roof and window seals examination
- Water lines checking
- Regular maintenance
- Water damage inspection
- Individual appliance maintenance
What Do You Need to Prepare for Skoolie Conversion?
Now that you’re done with the budgeting aspect, it’s time to prepare for the conversion. Here are several things you must prepare:
Decide the Bus Type You Would Want to Use
Buying your bus is the first stage, which might not be as simple as it sounds. There is wide range of skoolie buses for sale to choose from. Such as:
- Bus Type A: Type A bus is the smallest bus size. This bus type has two entrances on either side of the vehicle, behind the front wheels, and is 20 to 25 feet long
- Bus Type B: These vehicles have a length of 25 to 35 feet and resemble conventional dog-nose school buses. This bus is a nice size for a frequent traveler who is traveling alone
- Bus Type C: Bus type C is a typical school bus. These are 35 to 45 feet long with a visibility-impairing dog-nose front. There is less space because the door is located behind the front wheels.
- Bus Type D: These school buses have long, flat noses. While driving, the flat nose provides excellent visibility. There is more usable space because the entrance is put in front of the wheels. The finished skoolie of this bus is perfect if you love to travel to amazing places with your skoolie.
Find the Right Place to Buy Your Skoolie
You might be asking where you can even get a bus if you’ve already decided on the type of vehicle you want. They are not typically found on a vehicle dealership lot. Online is the greatest place to start. Used bus sales are advertised on numerous websites and online classifieds. You might even find finished skoolie for sale if you’re too lazy to design them yourself. However, it does come with much more expensive price. Our recommended online marketplaces are:
- Craigslist
- Facebook Marketplace
- GovDeals
- Bus Life Adventure
- Public Surplus
- Northwest Bus Sales
Although you could buy new, purchasing secondhand skoolie for sale is more cost-effective. This is so because current buses cost more than $100,000 and are built to last up to several hundred thousand kilometres. It also doesn’t matter if the inside seats and floors are in decent shape because you’ll be gutting the interior. Make sure to test drive and inspect a bus like you would a vehicle when considering one for purchase.
Read Also:
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